DJ Premier & A$AP Ferg’s Conversation Shows Rap’s Generations Have More In Common Than Not (Video)

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The discussion begins with DJ Premier telling Ferg about his history with music back in Texas. Ferg stresses his affinity for ’90s Hip-Hop, given the individuality. Then, Premier asks his most recent collaborator whether his Hip-Hop journey began with music or fashion. Ferg, who has two gold-certified singles, replies, “I’m naturally into clothes, ’cause my dad designed the Bad Boy [Records] logo. He had the store in Harlem, Ferg Apparel. So like, naturally, that’s what I did. I went to Art & Design High School; I majored in Fine Arts and Fashion. That was my life! So I was fly, bein’ jiggy, and paintin’, but I always had deadly bars ’cause I’m from the hood, and that was our sport.”

Ferg recently released Still Striving. He explains how rapping led to an Uptown fellowship. “You talk about A$AP, like we derived from other crews. You had Harlem Envy which was a crew that I started off with. Then you had Team Nerd, which was Teyana Taylor, [A$AP] Yams, it was [A$AP] Ills, A$AP Bari. Then you had Million Dollar Babies, which was [A$AP] Rocky. [Then] the team thing started to die out. It was almost like the best of each team came together, and that’s what A$AP [Mob] was.”

A$AP Ferg’s father, Darold D. Brown Ferguson passed away. In 2013, he told Complex, “[My father] died of kidney failure, from breathing in all that plastisol paint. I could be like, ‘How am I ever going to fill my pop’s shoes?’ But in my eyes, I’m becoming better than him, accomplishing things he didn’t get a chance to. He would want that.”